Puffs And Peaks Donut Shop, Tampines: S$4.50 Custard Brioche

Puffs And Peaks Bakery sells its custard-filled brioche donuts from unit #03-03 of Tampines Central Community Complex, 866A Tampines Street 83, Singapore 521866, and most of them cost S$4.50 each. The counter opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10:30am to 5pm and stays shut on Monday and Tuesday. This is a neighbourhood donut shop in the plainest sense: no seats, a short glass case, and trays that empty well before closing.

The bakery signs its website as JT and L, a daughter and mother duo, and it describes itself as your neighbourhood bakery where everything is made in house by hand. The unit sits on the third floor of a community complex rather than in a mall, among the HDB blocks of Tampines Street 83, and the home page still talks about the smell of brookies and banana tea cake drifting out of the kitchen on baking days.

Mothership visited in 2023 and called these some of the best stuffed donuts it had eaten. Its reporter also noted that the tiny unit has no tables or chairs, so everything is bought to go. The writer ate them with kopi in the level 1 food court, which remains the most sensible plan if you cannot wait until you get home.

The bakery's find-us page warns visitors not to confuse this community complex with Our Tampines Hub, the much larger community building near Tampines MRT, and its FAQ repeats that the shop is not inside Tampines Hub. If you are driving, enter the postal code 521866 and use the basement car park, which the bakery lists as its parking option.

The donut itself is a fluffy fried brioche round, filled with one of the house custards or creams. On the current preorder menu the plain cinnamon version costs S$2.90, while every filled flavour is S$4.50. The filled range lists Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Roasted Pistachio, Strawberries and Cream, Lemon Curd, Salted Honey Whip and Peanut Butter, and a savoury Sour Cream and Chives.

Order the Vanilla Bean first. The bakery says it folds Australian vanilla bean paste, which it notes is alcohol free, into its own custard, and Mothership named it the crowd favourite when it visited. The Chocolate is the safe second choice, made with Callebaut chocolate in a dark custard, and it holds up better than the cream-based fillings if your box sits in a hot car.

The Roasted Pistachio is the one regulars asked for. The bakery describes it as a lightly sweetened house nut paste made from roasted pistachios and folded into custard, and it says outright that it is for people who like the heaviness of nut butter. If you find nut pastes cloying, skip it and take the Lemon Curd instead, a sharp, buttery curd that cuts through the sugar coating.

The savoury Sour Cream and Chives is the oddity worth trying once. The bakery suggests air frying it for three to four minutes at 180C to crisp the outer crust, which tells you it is meant to be eaten warm rather than straight from the box. Salted Honey Whip and Peanut Butter pairs wildflower honey whipped cream with a crunchy peanut butter sauce and is the sweetest of the set.

The case is not only donuts. The same preorder menu lists Shio Pan at S$3.80, a Kopi Siew Dai Basque Burnt Cheesecake at S$8, Apple Pie Twice Baked Croissants at S$6 and a Valrhona Brownie at S$5. The kopi cheesecake is the local twist here, named after the less-sweet milky coffee you would order at the hawker stall downstairs.

For parties there are minis. Twelve mini cinnamon donuts cost S$26 and twelve filled minis in two flavours cost S$40, with a 36-piece box in four flavours at S$118. The Donut Gift Set at S$88 is a set of five gift boxes, each holding four donuts, and the bakery sets a minimum of five boxes, so it suits office gifting rather than a single present.

Arrive close to the 10:30am opening on a weekend if you want the full flavour range. The FAQ says the day's available bakes are posted on Instagram stories at @puffsandpeaks and updated during the day when demand allows, so check the stories before you take the bus over. A late-afternoon visit often means only the plain cinnamon donuts are left.

If you need a guaranteed box, preorder on the bakery's Cococart shop. Pickup at Tampines Central is free but is not offered on Tuesdays. Islandwide delivery between 10:30am and 2:30pm costs S$12, a chosen one-hour slot costs S$22, and a cheaper S$5.50 east-side delivery covers postal codes starting 40, 41, 46 to 52 and 81. The donut listing also carries a promotion of one free cinnamon donut with any six.

The bakery has a second shop, Puffs And Peaks Bakery Cafe at Tampines Changkat Community Club, which also opens on Tuesdays. If you arrive on a Tuesday and find the third-floor unit shuttered, that cafe is the fallback: the bakery's directions say to take bus 292 for ten stops from Tampines Bus Interchange and alight opposite the club.

Payment is easy: the FAQ lists Paywave, PayNow, GrabPay, NETS, CDC vouchers and cash. The bakery is not halal certified, but it states that all products are free of pork, alcohol and lard. Allergen notes on the donut listings flag dairy, eggs, gluten and nuts, so ask at the counter before ordering for anyone with a nut allergy.

These are custard donuts, so treat them like fresh cream cakes. The bakery recommends eating them on the day, or refrigerating them straight away, cling wrapped, for up to three days. To revive a chilled one, it suggests 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave, 15 minutes at room temperature, or three to five minutes in an oven or air fryer at 160C to 180C.

The bakery's own directions list two bus stops on Tampines Avenue 5: Blk 867A, stop 75149, served by buses 34, 34B and 69, and Blk 730, stop 75141, served by 293, 34A, 34B and 69. Tampines MRT on the East West and Downtown lines is the nearest station, but it is a long walk, so most visitors take one of those buses from the interchange.

With a box in hand, ride back toward Tampines MRT, where Tampines Mall and Century Square sit on either side of the station plaza. Our Tampines Hub, the community building the bakery warns you not to confuse it with, is a short walk further and has its own hawker centre, a good place for lunch before you open the donuts for dessert.

Address: Puffs And Peaks Bakery, #03-03 Tampines Central Community Complex, 866A Tampines Street 83, Singapore 521866. Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 10:30am to 5pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. On public holidays the counter opens 10:30am to 5pm unless the holiday falls on a Monday. No phone line is published; the bakery asks customers to message it on Instagram or email puffsandpeaks@gmail.com.